Expert: US set the Europeans up with Iran deal

Flags of Russia and Iran, author: Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation

17.05.2018, Moscow.

The USA’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal has endangered the European countries, an expert of the Valdai International Discussion Club, diplomat Aleksandr Maryasov wrote on May 16 in his publication at the Valdai web site.

“Americans have certainly set the Europeans up, because the latter failed to persuade them to stay,” Maryasov believes. The European countries, especially France and Germany, will try to avoid any negative consequences of the USA’s withdrawal from the deal. As for Iran, the expert noted, it is not going to pull out, and it plans to secure all the necessary guarantees of its interests.

According to Maryasov, the EU countries will certainly pull out from the deal soon. Almost 15 years ago, “Europeans said that they could only be satisfied with complete termination of the enrichment,” and this option has become possible again, the expert believes.

The diplomat also mentioned that the USA’s withdrawal from the deal has escalated the conflict between Iran and Israel. “This is not a war yet, but it is already an exchange of strikes,” Maryasov said. Russia remains “a major guarantor of the deal” in this the process, while Europeans “do not care” about this conflict.

On May 16, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that her country did not plan to pull out from the nuclear deal with Iran.